Skip to content

Nelson-Creston MLA Mungall endorses Adrian Dix

Nelson-Creston MLA Michelle Mungall joined with 57 other under-40 NDP members across the province last week to endorse Adrian Dix in the party’s leadership campaign.
83516crestonMIchelle_mungall

Nelson-Creston MLA Michelle Mungall joined with 57 other under-40 NDP members across the province last week to endorse Adrian Dix in the party’s leadership campaign.

“I feel that Adrian is where the future is,” she said from Vancouver on Friday. “His style is creative and collaborative and he will inspire younger people to get involved in British Columbia politics.”

Dix, MLA for Vancouver-Kingsway, has become one of the NDP’s highest profile members as an opposition critic. He toured the Nelson-Creston constituency with Mungall last month.

“I took this decision very seriously,” Mungall said. “I wanted to talk to as many people in Nelson-Creston and around the province as I could before making a decision on who I would support.

“I also represent a young voice in the legislature, so I spent a lot of time talking to young people around B.C.”

The first-time MLA said she was pleased that the three top candidates — Dix, John Horgan and Mike Farnworth — had all visited the Kootenays.

“It was pretty exciting to stand shoulder to shoulder with Adrian and a big crowd of young people,” she said. “The majority of young adults are not participating in our system and Adrian is the one who wants to hear what they have to say.”

A leader to succeed Carole James will be selected in an assembly at the Vancouver Convention Centre on April 17.

“It’s about time,” Mungall said about last week’s announcement by premier-designate Christy Clark that the minimum wage will rise to more than $10 an hour in the coming year. “We (the NDP) have been saying this has been needed for 10 years.

“As a member of the legislature’s finance committee I have been advocating for an increase in the minimum wage for two years. Finally, somebody heard us. …

“I understand that businesses are worried, but studies indicate that higher wages to low income earners stays in our communities. When we cut corporate taxes that money doesn’t even stay in our country. Low wage earners spend most of the money they earn on goods and services right where they live. This is a good day for British Columbians.”